COMMON OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Learn . . . not to . . . be inflated with pride in favor of one person over and against another. 

It stood out clearly to Paul, and he wasn’t happy with what he saw: the believers in Corinth were breaking down into factions. Some people pledged loyalty to Apollos, some to Peter. Others identified with Paul. What’s worse, they were promoting their preferred preacher and devaluing all the rest. But such divisiveness isn’t what any of those apostles wanted to encourage. So Paul told the Christians there to look beyond the gifted preachers or teachers and focus on Jesus, the One from whom all those gifts came.

It wasn’t just the early Church. We’ve all seen it in our parishes, our workplaces, and our neighborhoods. It’s very easy for factions or cliques to form and cause division.

Consider your parish: one person may be superb at keeping the various ministries well organized. Another may be good at reaching out to young people or identifying and making the most of God’s gifts in the people around him. One priest always has a memorable homily. Another celebrates Mass in a reverent or moving way. It’s easy to be so impressed with those talents that we begin to value and prefer one person more than another. Even more, we can lose sight of the Lord, who is the source of each talent.

Each of us has different gifts. Each of us appreciates some characteristics more than others when we consider the people around us. But all of these gifts come from Jesus and are meant to reveal his love and his presence to us. In fact, God wants us to recognize his image and likeness in every one of the people we encounter—parishioner, coworker, neighbor, even enemy.

So when you’re at work or at church, look for the ways God has gifted the people you meet. Appreciate the creativity of the Lord, who makes himself visible to us in so many ways. And give thanks to Jesus, the One from whom all these talents come.

“Thank you, Jesus, for your work in the lives of your servants, my brothers and sisters. Help me to see you in them and to treasure each of them.”

Psalm 145:17-21
Luke 6:1-5